Danielle
by Epona3
Summary: A post-ep for 10 focusing on Danielle


For the first week after Annie's death, Auggie never left his apartment. Even though he knew she was dark, but not dead, he was mourning for her. His days and nights blended together-the difference between the two didn't matter.

He didn't really know what day it was until Calder came to his door and informed him that his presence was requested at Langley.

"I thought you would have this place put back together better than this by now." Calder said as he peeked into Auggie's apartment.

"Why bother?" Auggie asked. "I assume there will be another sweep soon."

"It's about quality of life." Calder responded.

"My quality of life hasn't mattered since you killed my girlfriend."

Calder stared at the man. He was sure Auggie was in on the plan, but if so, he was putting on a great act. The man truly looked as though he was deep in grief.

"Come with me." Calder stated.

...

At home after a week of polygraphs, Auggie was drinking a beer in silence when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Auggie asked.

"Danielle," the voice responded. Then, shakily, she added "Annie's sister."

Auggie pulled the door open without hesitation. "I know that." He said softly.

Danielle was momentarily frozen at the sight of the man before her. "I... I had to come." She said. Auggie could hear the sadness in her tone.

"Come in," He said.

Danielle walked through the doorway and was startled by the look of the apartment. In some ways it was meticulously clean and neat, which contrasted with holes in the walls and ceiling.

"Pardon the mess." Auggie said, sure that Danielle was taking in the work in progress. "How did you find me?"

"You know. Just, through some ways." She replied with a slightly bitter tone.

Auggie leaned against the island, facing Danielle. "I wanted to be the one that called you. I've been thinking of you and the girls all week. How are you?"

Danielle choked back tears. "What happened, Auggie?"

Auggie gave a sympathetic look as he asked "What did they tell you?"

"Nothing. Just that my baby sister is dead and they'll be in touch to make arrangements with her family." Danielle couldn't hide the tears now.

Auggie stepped forward to give her a hug and Danielle folded into his arms. He was a little bit surprised how much she felt like Annie. Her body was softer, but the hair around his face brought tears to his eyes. They stood together, him holding her, for a moment, while she released a few sobs.

Finally she pulled away. "I had planned to smack you." She said.

"I expected as much." He replied warmly. "Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? I have beer, wine, tequila, coffee..."

"Definitely tequila."

Auggie nodded and went to the fridge for his new bottle of Patron while Danielle stayed standing. He poured a heavy dose in two glasses and held one out for her. She cringed as she drank, then sat the empty glass on the counter.

"What happened to my sister?" She asked, forcefully.

Auggie replied by drinking his glass and putting away the bottle of tequila, retrieving a bottle of beer from the fridge. He held it toward Danielle.

"I don't want beer. I want to know what happened to my sister."

"She was shot." Auggie answered.

"By who?" Danielle replied without hesitation.

Auggie pinched his lips and walked to the couch.

"Auggie. I deserve to know who killed my sister!" Danielle shouted.

"It doesn't work that way, Danielle. You know that." Auggie was sympathetic, but serious.

"You can tell me, Auggie."

"Danielle, I know this is hard. I know it is probably the hardest thing you have ever had to accept. But the nature of Annie's job, and particularly this incident, it's best that you don't have the details."

"Why was she in Germany?"

Auggie looked toward Danielle, shocked. "How do you know she was in Germany?"

"She sent me a postcard. Unless that was an Agency fabrication?"

Auggie almost smiled. "When did she send it?"

"The fourteenth."

Auggie took a sip of his beer.

"She knew she was going to die." Danielle said, her voice shaky.

Auggie took a deep breath. "She knew that what she was doing was risky."

"Why, Auggie? Why would she take such a big risk?"

"To save lives, Danielle. That's why any of us take this risk."

"But her life was important."

"Definitely."

"Help me make sense of this, Auggie."

He sighed. "There is no making sense of it, Danielle."

"I don't believe you."

"I've been trying to make sense of it for ten days. We just…" Auggie ducked his head down as tears started to come to his eyes.

Danielle sat next to Auggie. She had rehearsed what to say in her head for the whole flight to DC. She had planned to show no remorse. But seeing the man in front of her fighting to keep his cool wasn't something she expected.

"Did you talk to her much, recently?" Auggie asked, his emotions back under control.

"Not really." Danielle replied.

Auggie nodded. "Did you know we were together?"

"Yes. She told me about that."

Auggie nodded.

"I still want to know what happened." She said calmly.

"I still can't tell you."

Danielle sat back and looked around the apartment. "This isn't what I imagined your place would look like."

"I'm renovating." Auggie replied.

"Hope you didn't pay the contractor up front."

Auggie grinned. "Haven't paid him a cent. Might be why he left the place like this."

"So she was in Germany, and she was shot. Was it like Stockholm?"

"Danielle, I can't." Auggie was full of sympathy. "And while I know you are a fabulous mother, which includes extensive interrogation practice, I promise that I have better training than Katia and Chloe."

Danielle tilted her head and stared at the man. "Is that a challenge?"

"Nope." Auggie replied.

"So do they do something special at Langley for a fallen agent? I read about the wall of stars. Could you get me in to see it?"

"I can ask." Auggie replied. "Her status would have to be declassified for anything else to happen, and I don't think that's happening anytime soon."

"What does it matter now?"

"Revealing that she was CIA could leave other operations in jeopardy."

"So whatever she was working on is still active."

Auggie pinched his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Got it." Danielle replied.

There was silence for a moment. "Is it normal for you guys to... Get hurt so much?" Danielle asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I assume you haven't always been blind, then there's that Jai guy who died in a random accident, and Annie was shot that time last year, and when she first started working for you guys she came home with all kinds of bruises. I'm just wondering if that's normal."

"Jai who?" Auggie asked, not revealing if he was serious or not.

"The son of Henry Wilcox that Annie brought home for dinner once?"

"I think I know who you are talking about." Auggie took a heavy sip of his beer. He didn't remember Annie dating Jai, but knew he had pursued her.

"So are these kinds of things common in your line of work?"

Auggie leaned toward her. "It's really uncommon at the Smithsonian."

Danielle groaned.

Auggie looked toward her, his expression slightly changed.

"What?" Danielle asked.

"Nothing." He shrugged it off.

"No. Really. You just realized something, spy-man."

"You remind me of her." He said. His gaze was unsettlingly close to making direct eye contact.

Danielle blushed and looked away, even though she knew it didn't matter. "How?" She asked.

"Little things." He replied. "But the way you groaned at my statement was just like her. I bet you even rolled your eyes."

"Wait, how did you..."

Auggie grinned and gave Danielle a wink. "Are you sure you don't want a beer? Have you eaten? We can order a pizza. If I remember correctly, you liked Hawaiian?" He asked as he walked to the fridge.

"Yes for beer and pizza, and I can't believe you two talked about my pizza preferences."

He turned toward her. "We didn't." He shrugged. "That's in her file."

"That's creepy."

Auggie handed Danielle a beer and walked around the couch. "Annie said the creepy part is when you don't get creeped out anymore."

"I don't think she minded you knowing everything about her."


End file.
